Cosmote remains on the rise, Romtelecom reaps benefits of launching NextGen

Romtelecom, one of the largest communications operators in Romania, posted 13.9 million euros in operating losses in the third quarter of the year, with revenues down 6.5%, to 181.5 million euros because of the austerity measures and because of the rise in unemployment, according to data in the financial report of OTE, the majority shareholder. Romtelecom posted 194.2 million euros in revenues and an 8 million-euro operating profit in the similar period of last year.
"Given the consumer spending decline prompted by the salary cuts of public sector employees and of the VAT increase, Romtelecom posted reasonable results under these unfavourable circumstances, recording a 6.5% decline in revenues in the third quarter of 2010 against the similar period of the preceding year," said Yorgos Ioannidis, the company's CEO.
On the other hand, the company announced increases in the number of Internet and TV clients, which partly compensated for the decline of the core business, fixed telephony. The rise is largely driven by Romtelecom's cable company, NextGen, which brought nearly 80,000 Internet clients.
Cosmote, no. 3 on the Romanian mobile telephony market, posted 117.5 million euros in overall revenues in the third quarter, up 8.5% on the previous year, according to data in the financial report of the OTE group, Cosmote's majority shareholder. Service revenues went up 3.4% in the third quarter, with the EBITDA amounting to 23.3 million euros, 12% more than in the preceding year.